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Friday, 21 February 2014

Guest writer Lockie Young, Kenny-isms

Friday 21. Hello Faithful Readers, welcome to this weeks edition of the South Branch Scribbler. Due to some peculiar malfunction or some compatibility problem with my laptop and Blogger, there will be no photos this week.

This is Lockie's second guest appearance here and I know you will enjoy his witty take on clichés. Mr. Young has a published novel available at Morning Rain Publishing called Ryan's Legend. I wish I would've found those strange footprints when I was a boy.

I live in Albert County, a
mostly rural part of New Brunswick. For years this part of the world has been
known for its country charm and colourful inhabitants. The people of Albert
County are some of the nicest folks you'll ever run across, although some are
still quite set in their ways. Change sometimes comes hardest to those who are
used to the way it has always been. There are prejudices and cruelties here,
but then, these sentiments abound throughout this vast planet of ours, so we
aren't that different from most.I met a man who I think could
be the poster boy for Albert County. His name is Ken, and he’s well known in
these parts. Ken is a kind soul who doesn't blink to help out a neighbour or
friend when they are in need. A little rough around the edges, he is definitely
set in his ways and in his thinking. Ken
will always be best remembered by me as the man with a thousand sayings. Once,
while I was going through a particularly gruesome week at work, I asked Ken if
he'd been busy.
"Busy? I'm busier than a dog in a field full of stumps!" was his
reply to me. With that he flew off to another job, and I ticked off another Kenny-ism
I had never heard before.Now I'm not saying that all of
his great pearls of wisdom are actually his own creation. I'm sure, like most
people, Ken heard a lot of them over the years and adopted some as his
favourite, much like the rest of us do. I dare say that you may even adopt
these same sayings as your own creation, if they indeed spark your interest.So, what exactly is a saying
anyway? My interpretation is that it's simply a short statement, often made
in a derogatory way, to express a particular ideal or realism of the speaker.
For example, “He was tighter than the bark on a tree!” Another Kenny-ism
meaning that the person in question was very frugal with his money... to the
extreme.

We've probably all heard some of these at one time or another:
Happy as a clam; clean as a whistle; sharp as a tack; meaner then a junk yard
dog.For the most part, the saying in
question is usually a play on words. Sharp as a tack, for instance, doesn't
mean sharp at all, but rather very smart or intelligent. And the word smart,
used in a certain
way, could mean something entirely different, as in, "Well you look very
sharp in that new suit."I'm not sure where all these
pearls come from. Who was the first person, or group to say "Wow! That is
so cool!" Cool; this one word has stood the test of time for decades and
was most likely started in the days of flower power and the Hippie
generation of the 60's and 70's. It evolved from one generation to another with
the addition of other expressions tacked on to the end, like dude or man, but
this one word has also changed in spelling and meaning. At some point someone
decided to add their distinctive mark to this expression and spelled it “Kewl”.
Its meaning is the same, and is used in the same context, but with a difference
in spelling and sometimes pronunciation. Variations on this word might also be
chill, cold, ice, etc. All are individual, and yet all can mean something
different. If someone is getting hot around the collar you might say something
like "Chill, dude!" Hot can
also mean cool, as in "she's the hottest dancer here." Confused? Well
you should be. From the most eastern point of land in North America to the most
western point, different people have individual terms and sayings for nearly
every situation including;
Appetite: I don't know who was more stuffed, me, or the bird.
Baking: Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Cash flow: I haven't got a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of.
Death: Yep! He bought the farm.
Energy: His get up and go...got up and went.
Financing: If you look after the pennies then the dollars will look after
themselves.
Guilt: I feel lower than a snake's belly in a wheel rut.
Honesty: His word is his seal.
Insanity: He's crazier than a bed bug. (I'm still not sure what this means)
Jubilation: I was tickled pink!
Laughter: I laughed so hard, I nearly split a gut.
Money: If you have a lot, you spend a lot. If you have a little, you spend it
all!
Nature: What follows two straight days of rain? Monday!
Pregnancy: I think she has a bun in the oven.
Thirsty: I was dryer than a popcorn burp in a dust storm. (The word burp is
sometimes substituted for another form of gaseous emission)
Weather: Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night,
sailors delight.Now these are but a few and
nearly all have variations to the same theme. I suppose its human nature to
embellish the truth so as to enhance the tale telling. Is someone actually as
strong as an ox, or hungry enough to eat a horse? I'm sure nobody is actually
as dumb as a post, but then, why is a post dumb? Does it mean that the person
in question can't speak, as in deaf and dumb or, has the meaning, like so many
sayings passed on for generations, somehow changed over the passage of time to
mean something different?Regardless of origin all
sayings have one thing in common. If they're catchy enough to get the attention
of the listener, then they are probably destined to become popular and used.
Through time the theme may change, the context and even the spelling and construction
of the phrase may be altered, but the general idea will still be there for
someone else to use and improve upon.So, in conclusion, if you're
dressed to the nines and figure you'll kill some time at the local Slurp and
Burp try not to get between a rock and a hard place with that cute bartender.
Time heals all wounds and at the end of the day, there's no place like home.

Next week, Feb 28, 4Q Interview will host Cara Brookins, an accomplished author with several published Young Adult novels available. You can view her profile and samples of her work at www.carabrookins.com

Dark Side of a Promise - a tale of revenge, heroes, murder and mayhem, love and doubt - is available at amazon.com.

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Allan Hudson

About Me

I started writing later in life, inspired by one of my favorite authors, Bryce Courtenay, who began his writing career in his mid-fifties. It has been one of my most rewarding pastimes. I’ve been an avid reader all my life. It started with Dick & Jane – a primary reader my mother brought home from her work – she was a school teacher and taught me to read at an early age.

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5 Star review for Shattered Figurine

The opening chapter presents the detective, Jo Naylor, with a very important question. One she didn’t really want to answer but knows she must.

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Shattered Figurines is a surprisingly unusual detective story in that it doesn’t follow the usual plotline for this genre and the characters aren’t run of the mill either. The author has captured a very real element in both the story and the characters and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I love a good detective mystery story and Shattered Figurines is one of the best I have read this year. I shall be first in the queue when the author writes another one in this series.

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Dark Side of a Promise

Drake Alexander Adventure - Book 1. I'm pleased to announce the first two novels in the Drake Alexander Adventures are now available as an eBook at the following outlets. Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Playster, Book2read, Bibliotheca, Overdrive, Tolino, Scribd, 24 Symbols & Amazon. Soon to be available at other booksellers.

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The Douglas Kyle Memorial Award for Fiction

My story - The Ship Breakers - received Honorable Mention in the Douglas Kyle Memorial awards for New Brunswick Writers Federation's short story category. Published in 2018 in A Box of Memories, a collection of delightful and entertaining short stories.